


pepper

by cicadas



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Diego the budget chef, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26141218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cicadas/pseuds/cicadas
Summary: Diego finds his stash of smoked paprika between ‘early’ and ‘intermediate’ physics books in the hallway bookshelf.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Diego Hargreeves
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	pepper

Five hasn’t felt his age in eight months, two days and fourteen minutes.

It’s hard not to keep track of the time when he has so many mental tabs open on seconds of history. Births, lives, deaths, catalogued in his brain for later use. Like his cabinet drawer at his Commission desk.

He watches Vanya float in and out of the house, sometimes accompanied by her violin case, sometimes by a sweet red-headed girl who hunches her shoulders when she sees him and whispers into Vanya’s hair whenever they’re not alone. He sees older people on the sidewalks out of his window and sees them up close when he goes grocery shopping or simply strolls the streets. But they don’t tip their hats or nod the way they used to. Instead they physically look down to smile with one side of their face at him - if they acknowledge him at all- and it curls something nasty in his gut.

He spends more time inside, where his walls speak to him in a language he understands - fit for his age, complex and precise. But it’s not enough.

He’s been gaining weight recently. Unfamiliar with downtime, Five’s picked up new hobbies. Sewing for fun not function; He walks for leisure; Starts to cook for himself. More complex meals the more confident he is he won’t accidentally give himself food poisioning. The small fridge in his room begins to fill up. He has spices on his bookshelf.

Diego knows what it’s like to eat on a budget. Wanting to try recipes with a fifty dollar grocery expense led to experimenting with half-price chicken fillets and whatever he could find that sounded ‘bang for his buck’. He finds Five’s stash of smoked paprika between his ‘early’ and ‘intermediate’ physics books when he visits on a Monday to drop some clothes off to Vanya. As of February, they were the only two living in the mansion. Diego didn’t fit his old button-ups thanks to his new workout routine and they were practically all Vanya wore. She thanked him with a watery smoothie and he thanked her in turn for the effort.

There’s an absence in one of the upper level halls where Mom’s charging station used to be, and Diego doesn’t believe he’s ever noticed something as often that wasn’t there. In his whole life. He misses the cross-stitches and hands clutched in front of her ironed dresses. But once up at Five’s room, the familiarity sets in in an odd way that is wholly comforting. He sees the jars of spices and turns his head to Five’s desk, with Five at it, scribbling away at a notebook like he never learned how to stop.

To slow down. Diego picks up a thin glass bottle and shakes it in front of slick black hair. Five’s head raises from its hunch and looks up scowling - softening once he sees who it is.

Diego just smiles. Always on alert, even after eight months.

“You want me to teach you how to use this, or are you busy working out what four plus four is?”

The scowl Five gives in return is one Diego recognises - he isn’t angry, or upset. It’s his default expression from facing heat, wind and snow for forty-some years. It’s intrigue. It’s wariness. It’s a front.

“If you throw my cumin and curve it around the door, I’m going to shave your head while you sleep.” Five says.

Diego grins.

“You think you can sneak up on me, old man? I’ve been sneaking up on criminals for years.”

“And I’m a trained assassin who’s several decades your senior.”

The dimple in Five’s chin becomes more and less prominent as his expression mixes cocky and playful. His thick eyebrows are set but the thin line of his mouth turns up in the right corner every couple of seconds.

Diego twists the cumin in his fingers. It’s a third empty, which means he’s been seasoning the shit out of whatever he’s been whipping up down in the kitchen.

“For real though, c’mon. You might learn a thing or two.” Diego sets the jar down in front of Five’s next pen stroke. His scowl shifts to the meaner side of the ‘always angry Five’ scale.

“If I go with you, will you let me get back to my work?”

Diego bites his tongue. “If you wanna leave after a meal I’ve cooked, be my guest. But just know there’s a blow up mattress under my bed for your future food coma.”

Five smacks his notebook shut. “I’ll be telling you what’s to come in the future, not the other way around.”

Like clockwork coming back around to twelve - Diego grins.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u fr reading. will probably add a second chapter as i am wanting to write more in this ‘short sentence’ style. (updated desc to be more accurate also) thank u bye


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